


You Are My Clarity

by savingprivatesimmons (black_twosugars)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, Karaoke, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 06:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4128451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_twosugars/pseuds/savingprivatesimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In all honesty, Ryan has no fucking clue how he ended up here. He is one of the most feared mercenaries in Los Santos, he works for the notorious Fake AH Crew, and 99% of the time he hides his face underneath a horrifyingly intimidating skull mask. How the hell he wound up standing on a tiny stage in an equally tiny bar on karaoke night is beyond him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are My Clarity

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a real sap for writing about the hella scary and dangerous Fake AH Crew doing cute, everyday things that normal people do… so I wrote about Geoff & Ryan singing karaoke.

In all honesty, Ryan has no fucking clue how he ended up here. He is one of the most feared mercenaries in Los Santos, he works for the notorious Fake AH Crew, and 99% of the time he hides his face underneath a horrifyingly intimidating skull mask. How the hell he wound up standing on a tiny stage in an equally tiny bar on karaoke night is beyond him.

Geoff is stood to his right, a wild grin on his face as he adjusts the microphone stand and whispers to the DJ. He then turns to Ryan, smile never faltering, and says “get ready.”

Ryan sighs and rolls his shoulders in a vain attempt to loosen up. He’s never agreeing to come out for drinks with the crew ever again. _Especially_ not when Geoff chooses a bar that has karaoke nights.

When the first few beats of Zedd’s ‘Clarity’ blare from the speakers, Ryan internally groans. Of course Geoff just had to go and choose a song that’s probably played most at bachelorette parties. However, he has no time to complain because he’s fixing his gaze on the TV screen on the left and waiting for the words to come on screen.

After Geoff sings (more like completely butchers) the first verse, Ryan takes over. He sings it with a deeper pitch because there’s no fucking _way_ his voice can go that high, but he seems to garner Geoff’s approval. Well, Ryan _assumes_ that the sloppy smirk and bobbing of his head is approval.

Watching Geoff carelessly holler out the lyrics on the screen is oddly mesmerising. Ryan’s captivated by how carefree and reckless Geoff’s currently being. Honestly, Ryan knows why he had allowed Geoff to drag him up here, but he doesn’t want to acknowledge it. He doesn’t want to let himself think of exactly why he would do almost quite literally anything Geoff asks of him. At least not yet.

By the time the chorus comes, Geoff’s already bouncing on the spot and belting out the lyrics so loud that Ryan’s almost sure that he’ll bust the speakers. In contrast to Geoff’s wavering soprano that sounds like a screeching cat, Ryan’s voice is a lot smoother and he actually manages to hit the notes.

But when Ryan quickly glances at the area of the dance floor occupied by the rest of the Fake AH Crew, he’s rendered confused. Lindsay wears an expression of shock, complete with a gaping mouth which hangs open in awe, Ray is doing something that could _probably_ be described as ‘dancing,’ and Jack is cheering in his direction. Michael, however, isn’t stood with them.

Instead of letting himself get distracted, he focuses on hitting the notes and getting the words right. He’d rather not disappoint Geoff by screwing up; he’d probably make him do another song and that was the absolute last thing Ryan wanted.

Ryan would never admit to slightly enjoying this – Geoff would make him do it more often and Ryan wouldn’t stand for that.

(Well, he would – if Geoff pointed at a crowd and said “shoot”, Ryan would ask “how many?” – but that isn’t the point.)

However, he does allow himself to lose himself to the music; he takes the microphone from its stand and puts his all into using the most powerful voice he can muster. He pins the rush of adrenalin down to the overheating lights surrounding the stage, and spares a glance at Geoff.

It’s just Ryan’s luck that he catches his eye because he swiftly grabs the microphone from his own stand and throws an arm around Ryan’s shoulders, really getting into the song. He haphazardly tries to bob up and down to the music but he’s slightly off and Ryan is too but honestly, he doesn’t really care much anymore. Geoff’s glued himself to Ryan’s side and he finds that Geoff is pleasantly warm, despite smelling heavily of whisky.

Ryan dispels those thoughts and returns to the song, determined to not get distracted. He sings the last few lines with as much soul and emotion he can pour into a 2-year-old pop song that he’s already memorised the lyrics to because of its repetition.

When it finishes, the roar of applause from the audience is unexpected but not unwelcome. Ryan’s not used to positive attention being on him for reasons that aren’t illegal, but with the huge, dorky grin Geoff’s giving him, Ryan can’t find it in himself to care. Besides, he’s far too out of breath and exhausted to complain.

He’s ushered off the stage by the man himself who doesn’t remove his arm from around Ryan’s shoulders, even when they’re back with the crew.

“ _Dude_ ,” Geoff manages to splutter through his heavy breathing. “You never told us you could fuckin’ sing!”

Ryan replies with an incredulous expression and a tilt of the head. “I don’t… I didn’t think I could?” He’s waiting for Michael to jump out with his camera and for Ray to laugh and telling him he’s being pranked. The only things they compliment him on are his shooting, his competence on heists, and his driving skills when he’s the getaway driver.

“Are you fucking shitting me?” Geoff asks. Okay, maybe they aren’t joking. “Has nobody ever told you that you’re fucking _amazing_?!” Ryan’s heart flutters annoyingly at the words of appreciation from Geoff.

“Seriously dude, I got chills.” Lindsay adds. “Well, as many chills as one can get whilst also listening to the weird noises coming from Geoff’s mouth.”

Geoff shrugs and grins. “It’s true,” he informs.

Having no idea what to say, Ryan settles with a simple “thanks,” and leaves it at that.

“C’mon, my throat feels like sandpaper now, let’s go get a drink,” Geoff says after a few more seconds. He grabs Ryan’s arm and makes a beeline for the bar before he could even stammer out a response.

He orders a beer for himself and a Diet Coke for Ryan before sitting down on one of the bar stools. Ryan takes the proffered drink and sits down next to him, curious as to why they aren’t going back to the group. He’s also kind of hoping that he gets longer than a few moments of being alone with Geoff, but he doesn’t allow himself to linger on those thoughts.

When he doesn’t speak, Ryan makes himself heard instead. “Thanks for dragging me onto that stage,” he says, smiling and clinking his glass against Geoff’s. Said boss scoffs in disbelief, but Ryan offers an honest and open expression. And those are pretty rare when it’s concerning him. “Seriously, I had fun.”

“I’m glad,” Geoff replies, “but most of all, I’m just fuckin’ amazed at how good you are at that shit.”

Ryan feels a slight blush creep onto his cheeks as he averts his gaze for a moment. “Thanks,” he says, almost feeling like a broken record. He’s never been very good with words but whenever he says ‘thank you’, it’s always genuine. He reserves his voice for things that matter; like interrogations, heartfelt apologies, and genuine words of appreciation.

“Kinda pissed at myself for not noticing it earlier, though.” Geoff mutters, staring down at his beer as if the answers to his problems would be found at the bottom of the glass.

“Why’s that?” Ryan prompts, eager to hear Geoff talk more. He’s got one of those energetic story-telling voices that Ryan could listen to forever. But that doesn’t _mean_ anything, does it?

“’Cause I’m supposed to know all the little details about you,” he explains. “I already know everything about the others but you, well, I’m learning new shit about you every single day.” He doesn’t sound angry. He sounds as if he’s aiming for a ‘disappointed in myself’ vibe, but in actual fact he sounds as though he _enjoys_ learning all these new things about Ryan. “You’re a fuckin’ enigma, dude.”

Ryan opts for a smile and a shrug. “I’m not much of a talker. But you already knew that.”

“But you’re a singer?”

“I guess I am,” he replies, “I’ve always found it easier to sing than speak.”

“But you never knew you were good at it?”

Ryan feels his face heat up as he manages to not stumble over the words in his response. “I’ve never performed in front of people before. I sing in the shower and when I’m alone in my flat. That’s about it.”

A slightly guilty frown crosses Geoff’s face. “Sorry for forcing you up there.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Ryan reassures, a grin tugging at his lips as he remembered the rush of how good it felt to actually perform in front of people. “Like I said, I enjoyed it.”

“So would you be averse to singing in front of us?” Geoff asks, a hint of something hopeful in his tone.

Ryan mulls it over for a few moments before grimacing. “Maybe not the _whole_ crew.”

“What about just me?”

“Just you sounds good,” Ryan declares affirmably. “I could do just you.”

Geoff almost snorts beer out of his nose and Ryan realises his mistake. He feels his face heat up with an embarrassingly red blush and he tries to stammer out an explanation but fails miserably.

“You could do me, could you?” Geoff asks in a deep, faux-alluring voice, but he barely manages to speak through his giggles.

“No! That- that’s not what I meant! Sorry, I- fuck.” Ryan decides to just shut up. He can’t make himself look bad if he doesn’t speak. Geoff quits his laughter when he sees how annoyed Ryan is at himself.

“Dude, it’s cool,” Geoff assures, lightly placing an arm on Ryan’s forearm, leaning forward a bit as well. “Honestly, I’m honoured that you’d wanna let me hear that beautiful voice of yours.”

Ryan’s blush doesn’t fade, but that’s only because he’s still blushing from the fact that Geoff’s doting on him with affections and praise. “You… you really think…?” He mentally curses himself for being so bad with words, but Geoff understands what he’s implying.

“You can sing like an angel,” Geoff confidently declares. “You got the face of one too.”

Ryan’s jaw drops for half a second before he shakes his head and forces some laughter. “Good one, Geoff.”

Geoff simply sighs and tugs on Ryan’s arm to get his attention. Ryan’s gaze snaps up to instantly meet Geoff’s, and he can’t prevent the hope swimming in his own ocean blue eyes. There’s no way Geoff misses it.

He quickly leans in and kisses Ryan softly and quickly on his Coke-dampened lips before pulling away just as deftly.

Ryan’s breath hitches and he wouldn’t be surprised if Geoff claims to be able to hear his heartbeat thudding away in his chest, threatening to burst out.

“D’you believe me now?” Geoff asks, a sly, knowing smirk on his face. That asshole knows _exactly_ what he’s done to Ryan.

“I…” Ryan swallows nervously, stuck in a complete word block. He’s smiling, though. He tries to suppress the broad grin that tugs at his lips but it’s impossible. “Maybe.”

“Want me to prove it again?”

Ryan nods, and Geoff leans in again for the second kiss of many more to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr at [savingprivatesimmons](http://savingprivatesimmons.tumblr.com/)!!


End file.
